Cyclone apparatuses for separating solids from flowing air or other gases



. P. L. GERDMAN cycLoNE APPARATusEs FORSEPARATING soLzns FROM FLOWING AIR 0R .OTHER GASES Filed Oct. 31, 1955 Feb. 10, 1959 2,873,001 4 v `CYCLONE .APPARATUSES FOR `SEPARATING soLIDs FRoM FLowING AIR o R' OTHER GASES Pontos ILauritz Gerdman, Malmo, Sweden, .assigner lto Aiktiebolagetsbrink &'Co., Limhamn, Sweden, a corporation of Sweden Application ocmbeasi, 195sserialvNo. V543,930 Claims priority, application `SwedenN ovemhcr 8, 1954 i Claims. 1 (Ci.'18358) Thisv invention relates to a cyclone apparatus for separating -solids from llowing air Vor `othengases.

A `wide .range of -uses can be found for` such an apparatus. Inthe present instance it :will be .described in connection with a streetsweeping or cleaningirnachine inthe form of a vehicle, e. g.'a motor vehicle, `provided Awith a unit` operating 4with suction air or with both blowing air andsuction air for cleaning the street `and -for conveying the sucked-up sweepings topa container onthe vehicle in which the sweepings are separated from 'the air streamand collected, the container being, emptied `from-timefto.timeffA cyclone of the hconventional type `cannot possibly .be -nsed ,to advantage jfor theyseparation of the sweepings from thelairstream, on one hand because, iwith a .i reasonable structural height ofthe Cyclone, -the collecting chamber for thel solids separated in the cyclone from the air streampt-,willrnotfhave the required large capacity ,if it rtapers ,conically .downwards in the hitherto ,usualmanner, landou the other hand be cause the;sweepingsI often containrleaves, paper and like `objects which are not easily separated from lthe air :stream Aor'tend to adhere `to `and collect intheair pas- .cording to the invention Vfor separating the usweepings from thefairistrearn. t nlig. 2 Ais a Vcentral vertical seetiomof a yformsofithe -cycilone apparatus prOPer constituting vpart of the ,unit shownin Fig-1.

Fig. 3 is a section on the line III-III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view of a detail.

The cyclone apparatus comprises an upright container 1 which, in conformity with the general principle of a cyclone, has a laterally directed inlet 2 (Figs. 2 and 3) for the air stream adjacent its upper end and a central axial outlet 3 (Fig. 2) for the air stream in its upper end. A suction cleaning nozzle 4 (Fig. l) is connected to the cyclone inlet 2 by means of a conduit 5. As shown in Fig. 1 the fan 6 required for producing the suction air stream through the suction nozzle 4 is inserted in a conduit 7 leading from the cyclone outlet 3 to a blowing nozzle 8 surrounding the suction nozzle 4.

As will appear from Fig. 3, the container 1 need not be round but may preferably be rectangular as seen in horizontal cross section. The inlet 2 opens tangentially into a chamber 9 which is round as seen in horizontal section and which is defined outwardly by a vertical wall 10 and at the top by a horizontal Wall 11, the cham- Patented Feb. 10, 1959 "rice berbeing open atits lower end. From' the lower edgeof the verticalwall 10 there freely depend intothe container V1 elongated movable elements-12 spaced short distances apart and having preferably'ther-form of chains or like flexible members. A Afractionalview of one of said chains is shown'in detail in Fig-4. The chains 12 collectively form a foraminated screen Awhich outwardly deines a downward extensionof the downwardly open chamber-9 inside `and 4below the unbroken wall l10 and `11, respectively, the arrangement being such thatrthere is ample space 13`above the wallll aswell asoutside the wall 10 and the screen formed 'by the-elements 12 depending from said wall into the containerl. Thewall 11 which denesthe upper end of the chamber 9 may preferably lie ata'level withthe upper edge of the air inlet 2, and the height of the wall 10 may preferably be-equal to the vertical cross dimension of lsaidair inlet 2, but it may var-y within rather wide limits. The unbroken wall 10 may possibly `be dispensed with and replaced by the foraminated wallor screen `formed by the chains 12 which `in such a case depend fromthe edge of the horizontalvwall 11. The latter may also be forarninated 'but should preferably be unbroken. It is, however, preferablylprovided with a central opening and a cylindrical wall 14 depending from the edge of said opening to form a central axial passage 15 leading lto the space 13 from the chamber y16 inside the screen formed by the chains 12. At the lower end the container `1 widens to forni a spacious collecting chamber `17 `forl the solids which are separated in the cycloneV from the air passing` therethrough. The air stream passing through the cyclone and the normal vibrations at `the travel of'- the Y vehicle 'provided with-the sweeping unit are suilicient to cause the chains l2 toshakeor swing and strike or dashagainst one an- '13 the air passes through-the central outlet 3 at the upper end of the container 1. The=rotation of the air in 'the chamber 9, Y16 serving as the cyclone chamber, `results in a separation of Athe solids accompanying-the air and a deposition thereof in the collecting chamber 17 which has a door not shown) or the likefor the removal `Alof the collected sweepings `By reason `'oithe screen of chains ysuchobjects as leaves, ,paper and'fthe like, which are otherwise very vditlcult frtolseparate, are effectively separate'dfbyftheir getting caught bythe screen Vof chains. Thanks to the vibration or like motion of the chains the objects caught by the screen are prevented from adhering to it and clogging the air passages therein, and are shaken loose from said screen and fall into the collecting chamber 17. Having passed through the screenv to the surrounding space 13 in the container 1 the air llows so clamly and at so low a speed through said space 13 that particles which may have passed the screen of chains together with the air easily separate in the space 13 from the flowing air and sink to the bottom of the collecting chamber 17.

ln a .street cleaning machine of the type indicated by way of example for the utility of the invention, a very large quantity of air has to be sucked up per unit of time through the suction nozzle 4 and passed through the cyclone apparatus in order to be separated from the collected sweepings. .The possibility of realizing such a street cleaning machine in practice was therefore found to be dependent on the provision of a cyclone apparatus of so reduced a height and size as to permit its accommodation on the vehicle, but nevertheless both of sufficient capacity and suicient eiiciency. The invention has made it possible to satisfy this requirement and'also to give the cyclone collecting chamber for the sweepings separated so large a capacity as is required or desirable for practical reasons. At the same time the invention has made it possible to fulfil the prerequisite condition of connecting and utilizing the fan in the manner shown in Fig. l of the drawing. Arranged in this way, the fan would soon be clogged by leaves, paper and like objects getting caught therein if these objects had not been separated eliciently in the cyclone apparatus from thc suction air stream to the fan.

While the cyclone apparatus according to the invention has been described above as forming part of a street cleaning unit operating with suction air, the invention is not restricted to the use of the cyclone apparatus for this special purpose. Neither is the invention limited to the fomi of the cyclone apparatus shown in and described above with reference to the drawing, since it may be modied structurally in different ways without departing from its basic characteristic features. For instance, the air-penetrable self-cleaning screen which defines the cyclone chamber 9, 16 at least to the greater part of its height and periphery and which in the form shown is constituted by the individually depending chains 12, may be formed instead by other elements that can be caused to swing, shake or vibrate individually possibly with the l aid of a vibrator or the like.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A cyclone apparatus comprising a container having top, bottom and side walls and ared at its lower en d to provide at said end a lower chamber for the collection of solids, the top wall of the container having a centrally-located air outlet of substantial size, a cyclone chamber located within the container and positioned below the top wall thereof to thereby provide spacing in the form of an upper Vchamber between the top of the cyclone chamber and the top wall of the container, the cyclone chamber having a tangentially-arranged air inlet having its entrance outwardly of said container, a top wall, a centrally-located annular Wall delining an air passage from said cyclone chamber through the top wall thereof of less diameter than the air outlet in the top wall of the container, said passage being co-axial with the air outlet, the cyclone chamber having a wall arranged concentrically to and spaced outwardly from the annular Wall, both the annular wall and the wall arranged concentrically thereto being of substantially the same depth and being connected at the top by said top wall of the cyclone chamber, wall arranged concentrically to said annular wall being provided with a dependent Curtain of flexible chains, which chains are attached at their upper ends only to the lower end of said wall and are free to vibrate, move and frictionally contact one another for cleaning purposes, said curtain being spaced from the side and bottom walls of the container whereby an air space is provided between said curtain and said wall of the containerwhich air space is in communication with the chamber located between the top of the cyclone chamber and the top wall of the container.

2. A cyclone apparatus comprising a container having top, bottom and lside walls and providing at its lower end a lower chamber for the collection of solids, the top wall of said container having an air outlet, a cyclone chamber located within the container and spaced below said top wall to provide an upper chamber between thc top of the cyclone chamber and said top wall, the cyclone chamber having a top wall dening a centrally located air outlet passage from the cyclone chamber to said upper'chamber, a wall extending downwardly vfrom the top wall of said cyclone chamber concentrically to and spaced outwardly from said air passage, and a tangen tially-arranged air inlet to said cyclone chamber having its entrance outwardly of said container, and further comprising exible elements suspended at one end thereof from the lower end of said downwardly extending wall, the lower ends of said ilexible elements being spaced from the bottom wall of said container and being free to move and frictionally contact one another at their lower ends, said downwardly extending wall and said flexible elements being spaced from the side wall of said container to provide an air space around the downwardly extending wall and the exible elements, communicating with said upper chamber.

3. A cyclone apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein said container is ared at its lower end to provide an enlarged' lower chamber.

4. A cyclone apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein-said flexible elements comprise chains.

5. A cyclone apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein said tangentially arranged air inlet opens into said cyclone chamber immediately beneath said top wall thereof.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,035,822 Green Aug. 13, 1912 1,383,715 Geschwind `luly 5, 1921 2,542,635 Davis et al. ....v-- Feb. 20, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 4,325 Great Britain Feb. 22, 1904 518,533 France Ian. 4, 1921 596,156 France Aug. 1, 1925 348,124r Great Britain May' 8, 1931 659,545 Germany May 5, 1938 518,105 Great Britain Feb. 16, 1940 105,056 Sweden May 21, 1942 

